The present invention pertains to graphic display systems and more particularly to a method for scaling preformatted graphical symbols to various sizes.
Computers such as work stations are providing valuable tools to those involved in the design of electrical circuits. Such work stations allow a circuit designer to call parts from a database, to interconnect these parts graphically and to provide a visual display of the interconnected circuitry. Such work stations have extensive libraries of electrical components such as integrated circuits, transistors, resistors, capacitors and inductors, for examples.
The electronic circuit designer selects components from databases associated with these work stations and interconnects them via connecting leads or wire. The interconnected electronic circuitry is displayed upon a high resolution cathode ray tube (CRT). The electrical components are stored in the work station's database as sets of commands or parameters describing the shape and interconnect ability of various components. For example, a capacitor is a two port device shown as having two parallel separated surfaces. The work station would be required to store the identities of the two parallel surfaces and of a lead extending from each of the surfaces to which external connections can be made. As another example, an integrated circuit may be drawn as a square or rectangular box with a number of leads or interconnections thereto. The work station data base is required to store the dimensions of the box, that is the four sides comprising the rectangle or square, as well as the number and position of each of the leads extending from that integrated circuit.
The line segments comprising the capacitor and integrated circuit have a particular size and coordinate location associated with each of the electronic devices.
It is advantageous to show portions of the electronic circuit in greater detail or to show large circuits all on one schematic drawing. Furthermore, it is advantageous to convert the electronic symbols of a work station to conform with the symbol sizes and shapes of another schematic drawing. In addition, it is particularly advantageous to be able to alter the size of whole libraries or data bases of electrical parts.